1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an itinerary preparing system, and more specifically to a system for preparing a detailed itinerary based on simple information entered by a traveller.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, navigation systems have been widely used. These navigation systems are capable of indicating a recommended travelling route between a present position and a final destination using stored map information. Similarly, communication systems have been proposed in which an optimum traveling route can be obtained while taking necessary information such as road traffic information obtained by accessing a database from a vehicle-mounted terminal or a portable terminal and the like, into consideration. Other communication systems for receiving, e.g., guide information for amusement facilities and restaurants have been also proposed.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Hei 5-313583 discloses a navigation system for providing the shortest and most efficient route for travelling a plurality of destinations entered by a traveller (a parcel delivery person) using their addresses.
Also, an itinerary preparing system which uses these navigation systems for planning an itinerary including desired destinations has been proposed. According to such a system, it is possible to calculate the time required to reach each of the destinations through a recommended route, from the travel distance and the traffic history of the route, so as to reflect the time schedule into the itinerary, thereby preparing an itinerary which fits the actual situations.
In the above-mentioned itinerary preparing system, however, it is necessary for a traveler to individually input a duration of stay (hereinafter merely referred to as "stay time") for each destination, when planning an itinerary including a time schedule. This increases the number of input items which must be entered by the traveler, which makes the input process more laborious.
On the other hand, in order to make a trip comfortable and not overly tiring, it is necessary to take meals and rests or, in some cases, to lodge, at appropriate intervals. However, when planning an itinerary, a traveler's interest is usually centered on destinations he/she wishes to visit. Therefore, the traveler mainly inputs information on these desired destinations, and does not input or fails to input detailed meal and rest information, unless his/her tour object is to take meals or rests. As a result, the following inconvenience would arise when actually implementing the prepared tour: because of the unexpected time taken for meals and/or rests, the traveler may not be able to reach the destination by the originally scheduled time, or the traveler may feel uncomfortable. This leads to a problem that the scheduled tour cannot be implemented smoothly.